Ski edge



Oc?. 24,- 1944. H. HoHMANN SKI EDGE Filed Febv. 12, 1943 Patented Oct. 24, i944 f '2,361,030

UNITED STATES PATENT oFElcE N Skinner. v Henry Hohmann, Brooklyn, v y Application February 12,` 1943, Serial No. 175,691` claims (95. aso- 11.1.90

This invention relates to new and useful Aimminal portions havebeendisplaced, there is also provements in metal runners for skis, andregreat danger of injury to the skier, and accordlates moreparticularly to an improved means ingly the principal object ofthe present invenoi forming the meeting terminals of the several tion is to provide a novel; interlocking construcabutting strips secured along each marginal edge :15? tion of the meeting terminal portions of the sevof the lower -surface of aski.- f eral sections whereinit isvirtually impossible for It is well known that skis formed with metal these terminall sections. to be separated from the edges or runners, are much more satisfactory ski itself. f y w y v from the standpoint of yperformance than are In the ordinary devices of..the art, there is skis wherein the entire running surface is formed ill somewhat less danger of. transverse shifting of of wood. The metal runner `protects thefedge's the abutting terminals than there is for -such against chipping due tocontact with stones 'and terminals to-lift from: the surfaceoi lthe rabbet, other hard objects; andv greatly increases` .the for the reason thatthe usualdovetailor tongueeffective life of the skis. In accordance with and-groove arrangement preventsthe `former, the usual practice, the opposed 'marginal edges l5 although it does not prevent,y the lifting. In acof the running surface of the ski are recessed, cordance withthe 4present invention, lifting of and a metal edging positioned-within Vsuch one'or the other of theterminals is definitely recess,VV the lower surface of the vedging Abeing prevented by anovel interlocking arrangement substantially plane with the lower. or running including a plurality of. pairs of bevelled, coopsuriace of theski, and likewise the outer Inar- 20 eratingsurfaces, one -pair beingy bevelled in oneA ginal edge of the edging being substantially flush direction, and another in a. different direction. with the vertical edge of theski. l The arrangement. permits ,free flexing of the-` During normal skiing operations, particularly ski wherein the meeting-terminals of thesec.- when making sharp turns and performing othertion may moveaway iromeah othera slight diicult feats, the ski frequently flexes consid-z 2'@ distance ina telescopic fashion, lwithout, howerably; that is to say, the lower or running surever, causing thesetongue-and-groove terminals face forms a'convex arc, andaccordingly if the to become disengaged. .T hi's, is of the greatest metal runner on .each side of .the ski were madev importance, primarily for thereas'onthat in the in one continuous piece, such a Vgreat strainv older devicesthe ski on occasions flexes so greatwould be imposed upon the strip as to cause it it@ ly as .to vcause the tongue to completely' leave to be pulled away from its supporting screws. the groove, and thenbel so dislocatedasto' be Also, the provision of a single length of metal unable tore-enter thegroove.. I n. accordanceA edging onaeach side of theski runningf; subwiththe present invention, however, the continustantially the full length thereof and secured at w ous smooth surface of the runner sections can'- intervals of six or eight inches tothe ski by 33 not be disturbed, regardless of the strain or ilexmeans of counter-sunk screws, would greatly reingof the skis. n duce the normal and highly desired flexibility In the drawing: of the' wooden ski. Another .objection to the Fig. 1 is a broken bottom plan viewof a ski continuous runner resides in theiact that the embodying thepresent invention. metal and the wood have a diierent coeiiicientv 46* d Fig. 2 is a transverse. section taken on linev of expansion and contraction, and-accordingly 2-2 of Fig. 1. the screws or other securing means would be. Fiel 3 iS ari .enlarged bottom PlanViCW 0f the under constant strain almost all the time. complemental meeting terminal sections of they To remove these objections, the metal runner runners forming one embodimentof the present'y has generally been formed 'in abutting, discon- 45"; inventiomsuch terminalsbeing shown in spaced tinuous sections, the meeting terminals usually relation..

being provided .with various kinds of/ comple- Fig. y4 is similar .to Fig..3, but shows the ter-4 mental tongue-andegroove portions rather than minal sectionsinassembled relation'. having iiat, abutting ends. In all of the devices Fig. v`5 is a broken longitudinal section taken. of the art, however, there has been a vtendency 50" on line 5--5 of Fig. .4. Y for these terminal portions to be picked up byv .Fig 6 is anenlarged longitudinal section taken stones or other hard material encountered in the on line 6 -'6 of Fig. 4.

course of skiing, with the result that these termi- Fig. 7 'is "a perspective view of the meeting nals are bent downwardly, thus greatly impeding f. terminal sections in spaced relation and show' the possible speed of the ski. When these tering the upper surface thereof.

of the invention, the complemental meeting edges being shown in spaced relation.

Fig. 12 is asection taken-on line |2-l2 of Fig. 11 with the parts in assembled relation.

Fig. 13 is a similar section taken on line I3-I3 Of Fig. 11.

Fig. 14 is a perspective view showing this form k15 of the invention.

The ski proper is shown at I and maybe of the usual construction, and may have the crosssectional contour shown particularly in Fig. 2. The lower surface is flat, and there is formed along each marginal edge of such lower surface a longitudinal recess or rabbet iii which receives the sectional metal runners l1. The particular cross-sectional dimensions of the runners are, of course, ja matter of choice. The width of the recess, however, should be suchas to cause the* outer marginal edge -o'f` therunner to be flush, or substantially flush, with the vertical side edge of the ski, and in `depthvshrould also be such as to cause the lower surface of the runner to be ush with the lower surface' `of; the ski, all asis well known in the art. The-recesses may run substantially the full length of the ski, and may; if desired, terminate at a pointspaced from the rear end of the ski.`

In accordance with usualpractice, the runners arenot formed of a single, continuous length on each side of the ski, but rather'are formed vin sections each of such sections being secured tol the ski by .means of flat-headed screws I8 received in apertures I9 which are counter-sunk in order toA permit Vthe flat head of the screw to besubstantially flush with the lower surface of the runner or tolle lslightly inside the running surface. v terminal portions of each adjacent set of runners is such. as to `prevent the movement of any portion of the runner transversely of the lski The formationv of the complementalA as well yas vertically thereof. In other words, rif

the runners were to shift'transversely of the ski, or its terminals were to be picked up from the surface ofthe recess, theresult would be a pro.-

the ski and might result` in injury to the skier.

The first form of the .invention is illustrated particularly in Figs. 3 to '1, inclusive, and includes a plurality of the sections, eachprovided at opposite ends thereof with complemental"tongueand-groove 'terminals' 22 vand '23, respectively. Referring to tongue terminal 22, the upper surface of tongue 2l is flush with the upper surface ,25 ofthe runner. The lower surface 26 of the tongue is bevelled, and on each side of the tongue are oppositely bevelled surfaces 21. In the groove terminal 23, the groove 30 vis of such width as to receive the tongue with a fairly snug fit, and the inner terminal' of the groove is bevelled, as shown at 3|, such bevelled surface being on the same plane as lower surface 26 of ythe tongue. Side portions orextensions 32 and 33 defining the "groove arebevelled on their lower surfaces 34. Bevelled surfaces 21 on the tongueterminallie onthe samey plane as Ydo bevelled surfaces 34 on extensions 32 and 33.

- j'ectng member that would impede movement of It will accordingly be seen that as the tongue terminal is moved into interlocking engagement with the groove terminal, the lower surface 26 of the tongue engages upper surface 3| of the groove, and thus downward movement of the tongue relative t'o the groove is definitely prevented. Likewise, upper bevelled surfaces 21 of the tongue terminal engage the lower surfaces 34 of extensions 32 and 33, thus preventing downward movement of-,groove terminal 23 relative to tongue 4terminal 22. It will likewise be apparent that lateral movement of either terminal relative to the other is definitely not permitted Vdue to the tongue-and-groove formation. Inasmuch as the outer end of the tongue is not exposedwhen the several sections are secured to the ski, suchedge may be sharp, if desired, although the outer edges of surfaces 21 and surface 3| are preferably somewhat flattened, as shown at 31 and 38, respectively, in order to avoid an exposed knife edge on theV lower or running surface of 'the sections. In the arrangement shown, the tongue terminal is positioned at the rear of each section, althougnthis may, if desired, be reversed.

In the modified arrangement shown in Figs. 8, 9 and 10J the individual runner sections are provided with complementai terminals 40 and 4I, terminal 41) having on its upper surface 42 a bevelled surface 43 extending substantially half the width of the runner. 0n the opposite side of the runner the lower surface is provided with a bevelled surface M.' Upper bevelled surface 43 engages a lower bevelled surface 45 in terminal 4l, and lower bevelled surface 44 of terminal 4U cooperates with an engages an upper bevelled surface 45 in terminal 4i. This ingenious arrangement also prevents lateral shifting of one strip relativeto the other, and likewise definitely prevents either terminal section from lifting from the lowersurfacel of the ski. Likewise, in this instance, the outer terminals of the bevelled surfacesare desirably somewhat flattened in -order to avoid knife edges on the lower surface of the ski.

Another form of the invention is illustrated in Figs. 1l to 14, inclusive. bevelied surfaces are eliminated entirely, although the tongue-and--groove aspect 4of the first embodiment is preserved. 'Terminal 50 has a tongue 5l whichis half the thickness of the runner. 0n each side ofthe tongue, recesses 52 and 53 are provided, the material below such recesses likewise being half the thickness of the runner. The groove 54 extends rearwardly to wall 55, and this groove is likewise half the thickness of terminal 58. Extensions 51 are-received in recesses 52 in terminal 50. Itwill be appreciated that the surface shown in Fig. 11 may be either the upper or the lower surface of the runner.

The runners of the present invention are de-l sirably made 'from steel or other metal because of its hardness and resistance to wear. The invention is by no vmeans limited to theuse of metal, however, particularlyvsince various plastics and other materials may serveV well for the purpose.t

Also, yit must be appreciated that the several embodiments of ythe invention described and ilv lustrated herein are offered furthe purpose of illustration only, and are not to be taken in any limiting sense.' In other words, many other forms may be utilized without departing from the spirit of In this instance, thev the invention as defined by the appended lclaims,` n

What I` claim is:

1. A metal runner for a ski or the like, such runner being formed in a plurality of discontinuous abutting sections formed with tongue-andgroove, slightly overlapping terminals, the lower surface of the tongue and the upper surface of the inner end of the groove being bevelled on substantially the same angle to permit the two surfaces to contact one another, the lower surfaces of the groove terminal and the adjacent surfaces of the tongue terminal being oppositely bevelled, thus providing an interlocking tongueand-groove joint.

2. A ski runner formed in a plurality of discontinuous, abutting sections provided with complemental tongue-and-groove terminal portions, the tongue portion including a centrally disposed tongue whose upper surface is substantially plane with the upper surface of the runner, and whose lower surface is bevelled with its greatest thickness at its inner end, the upper terminal surfaces on opposite sides of the tongue being bevelled oppositely from the bevel on the lower surface of the tongue, the groove terminal having a groove therein formed at its inner end with a bevelled surface complemental to the bevelled surface of the tongue and receives such latter bevelled surface in substantial meeting engagement, the lower terminal surfaces of the groove terminal being bevelled complemental to the bevelled upper surfaces of the tongue terminal, such complemental surfaces being in substantial meeting engagement. 1

3. A ski formed with recesses along the marginal edges of the running surface, and a runner secured in each recess, each runner formed in a plurality of abutting sections provided with opposed, complemental tongue-and-groove terminals, the tongue terminal including a centrally disposed, projecting tongue whose upper surface is substantially plane with the upper surface of the runner, and whose lower surface is bevelled with its greatest thickness at its inner end, the upper terminal surfaces on each side of the tongue being bevelled with their greatest thickness at their inner ends, the groove terminal being bifurcated to provide a groove formed at its inner end with a bevelled surface to receive in surface engagement the lower bevelled surface of the tongue, the lower surfaces of the bifurcated terminals being bevelled to receive the upper bevelled Lsurfaces of the tongue terminal.

4. A ski having a recess along a marginal edge of the running surface, and a runner secured in such recess and formed of a plurality of discontinuous, abutting sections provided at their meeting terminals with complemental tongueand-groove joints, the lower surface of the tongue being bevelled, and the groove having, at its inner end, a complemental bevelled upper surface to receive the tongue, the lower surface of the groove terminals being oppositely bevelled, and the upper surfaces of the tongue terminal on each side of the tongue being bevelled to receive the bevelled surfaces of the groove terminals.

5. A metallic runner for a ski or the like, such runner being formed in a plurality of abutting, slightly overlapping sections formed with complemental tongue-and-groove terminals, the lower surface of the tongue being bevelled and the upper' surfaces of the portions lying on each side of the tongue being oppositely bevelled, the groove terminal having complemental bevelled surfaces toreceive the bevelled surfaces of the tongue terminal.

HENRY HOHMANN. 

